TOKYO () -- Japan and Russia have agreed to allow their national carriers to launch trans-Siberian flights between European cities and Sapporo, northern Japan, the Transport Ministry said Friday.


The agreement provides for two trans-Siberian flights per week each to Japanese and Russian carriers, to and from the New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, the ministry said.


The agreement on this new route was reached late Thursday in Moscow in bilateral consultations that started Tuesday, the ministry said.


Japan had been reluctant to allow flights by a Russian carrier from the airport on the grounds that it was adjacent to the Air Self-Defense Force's Chitose base.


The two countries have also agreed to allow KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to inaugurate a regular trans-Siberian flight between Sapporo and Amsterdam, they said